Displayed chronologically (based on date of posting)

POY 2011: Rodon Group LLC
16th PN Processor of the Year - (February 1, 2012)
Rodon Group LLC of Hatfield, Pa., is a finalist for PN's Processor of the Year for 2011. Rodon, a 56-year-old custom injection molder, is widely known for K’Nex construction toys. But at its heart, Rodon specializes in small precision parts over long runs on 106 injection presses. Rodon proudly waves the American flag with its motto of “We Beat China Pricing.” How does it do that? By taking a disciplined approach of shoot-and-ship molding, eschewing assembly and hiring and retaining a highly skilled workforce. And don’t forget its extensive use of robots. The numbers are impressive: 106 molding machines; 88 Rodon employees. One operator runs 15 injection molding machines.
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POY 2011: Bemis Manufacturing Co.
16th PN Processor of the Year - (February 1, 2012)
Bemis Manufacturing is a finalist for the 2011 PN Processor of the Year. Bemis, in Sheboygan Falls, Wis., has earned a reputation as a pioneering technological leader — especially in coinjection molding and its use of six-axis robots. And your head certainly does spin after a plant tour: On nearly all presses, a large, articulating-arm ABB robot removes parts from molds and does finishing operations such as degating, trimming and sanding. In many cases, that robot passes the part on to another six-axis robot for assembly right at the press, or part stacking. The company is known for large parts. Running a massive, 6,600-ton Milacron will generate that kind of attention: What is believed to be the world’s largest coinjection molding press turns out hoods for John Deere farm tractors and other big parts.
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POY 2011: Steinwall Inc.
16th PN Processor of the Year - (February 1, 2012)
Steinwall Inc. of Coon Rapids, Minn., is PN's Processor of the Year for 2011. Owner Maureen Steinwall has become an expert on training and motivating employees to be better plastics workers and better people, too. She takes a holistic strategy to the custom molding business. For Maureen Steinwall, who bought the company from her father in 1985 and is the sole owner, it all boils down to people working together. She developed her own management style, balancing all stakeholder groups: the owner, customers, employees, communities and suppliers. The company pioneered video work instructions right at the press — and now is replacing looped videos with iPads running PowerPoint presentations.
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Yo-yos big business in China
Breaking News & Features - (January 26, 2012)
The classic American plastic yo-yo is becoming big business in China. With savvy promotion by Chinese toy companies, the market has grown from barely a blip six years ago to one of the largest, with one U.S. firm saying China is now the world’s top selling yo-yo market. As with cars, where China rose quickly to become the biggest market worldwide, the new popularity of yo-yos is getting noticed by foreign companies. The largest yo-yo maker in the United States, Duncan Toys Co., recently launched its first products for China and the company sees significant opportunity. Duncan — a division of Baraboo, Wis.-based plastics firm Flambeau Inc. — set up an office in China in 2009. It hired former Chinese national yo-yo champion Luo Jianbin for market development and last year received a China sales license.
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Ford pickup truck gets EcoBoost
Breaking News & Features - (January 19, 2012)
Ford Motor Co. has put a lot of engineering and marketing into its EcoBoost engines, especially when it comes to one created for its F-150 pickup truck. The EcoBoost use turbocharging, lightweight materials and other technology to get better performance out of a smaller engine — a 3.5-liter V-6 for the F-150 —tempting buyers to opt for the EcoBoost for better fuel economy compared to a V-8. The EcoBoost is also a boon for plastics, with key components like the cam cover, ducts, hoses and engine cover all made from high temperature thermoplastics. Molder Miniature Precision Components Inc. added equipment during the auto industry’s slowdown to launch production on several parts on the engine. EcoBoost has been a success story for Ford. The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker hoped to convince 25 percent to 30 percent of buyers to opt for it, paying an extra $1,000 for it. Instead, an average of 41 percent of buyers has been adding it since the engine went on sale in March.
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BASF execs talk material science
Breaking News & Features - (January 18, 2012)
Car buffs cruising the North American International Auto Show in Detroit may admire a sports car’s sleek design or the fuel economy in a compact car or a pickup truck’s torque. Few recognize the material science that goes into those vehicles, though. James Peterson, market development manager for polyurethane systems with BASF Corp., noted that urethane skins are becoming more common on instrument panels and door panels, where tooling and production breakthroughs give interiors a softer touch. BASF engineers and executives with the Wyandotte, Mich., office are also working on a variety of future programs to decrease vehicle weight through strategic use of forms and multi-layer panels. Developments in continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastics are also key in creating thin seats – similar to those on multiple concept cars on display in Detroit – with structural plastic replacing steel, said Lawrence Alan Berkowski, senior vice president of engineering plastics. The BASF executives talk about the plastic under the skin and plastics in future development in a video from the auto show in Detroit.
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Hong Kong molder debuts airline seats
Breaking News & Features - (January 11, 2012)
One of Hong Kong’s largest plastic injection molding companies, Vigor Precision Ltd., is leading an effort with the Hong Kong government to develop what they say will be China’s first locally owned airline seat manufacturing business. The project recently unveiled its first seat, for the Airbus A340, and hopes to expand that to seats for Boeing and other commercial jetliners, and to other non-critical aircraft parts, including trolleys, crew seats and toilets, all of which use plastics components.
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Trexel holds MuCell workshop
Breaking News & Features - (December 8, 2011)
The push for lighter cars is prompting the North American auto industry to take a closer look at microcellular foaming in injection molded parts, but to get the most out of those parts, molders and carmakers alike need to plan for using the process from the start. Planning for the right expansion rates, cooling needs, wall thicknesses, gating and venting requirements will mean improved weight and reduced cycle times, said Levi Kishbaugh, vice president of engineering for Trexel Inc. during a one-day workshop on using Trexel’s MuCell process in Warren Dec. 6.
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Omotoso says hybrids slow to catch on
Breaking News & Features - (November 29, 2011)
Michael Omotoso of LMC Automotive says the high cost of hybrids, coupled with the vehicle's limited driving range causes consumers to shy away from hybrids. The higher gas prices climb, however, the more likely consumers will embrace hybrid vehicles, Omotoso says.
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Tom Gould talks design for vehicles
Breaking News & Features - (November 29, 2011)
Tom Gould, design director for JCI Automotive, discusses how design comes into play on lightweight-vehicle development. Gould calls plastics a "designer's friend" at the recent Plastics in Lightweight & Electric Vehicles conference in Livonia, Mich.
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Tom Pilette talks plastic-metal hybrids
Breaking News & Features - (November 29, 2011)
Tom Pilette of Magna International Inc. discusses the growth of plastics-metal hybrid car parts during the Plastics in Lightweight & Electic Vehicles conference. Pilette sees composites as a must to produce significant weight reduction in vehicles. The next three to five years should bring success with plastic-metal hybrid parts, Pilette says.
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Ettlinger's ERF demonstration
Breaking News & Features - (October 13, 2011)
Although its name is established in Europe and Asia, German specialty machinery maker Ettlinger Kunststoffmaschinen GmbH still has a way to go in establishing its brand in North America. That makes events like the Oct. 6 demonstration of Ettlinger’s rotating melt filter at KraussMaffei Corp.’s Florence headquarters essential.
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RoundTable's David Koo
Plastics in Medical Devices 2011 - (October 6, 2011)
In this video from PN’s recent Plastics in Medical Devices conference David Koo, a senior partner of RoundTable Healthcare Partners, offers merger and acquisition tips for medical-device manufacturers. Lake Forest, Ill.-based RoundTable is an operating-oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the health-care industry.
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Sciessent's Joseph Geary
Plastics in Medical Devices 2011 - (September 29, 2011)
Embedding antimicrobials into medical devices could help stave off the more than 1.7 million annual infections introduced during health-care aid or hospital stays. In this video from PN’s recent Plastics in Medical Devices conference Joseph Geary, executive vice president of Sciessent LLC, explains the history, growing interest and necessity of antimicrobial use in the health-care industry. Silver is an antimicrobal that has a long history of use to fight infection, Geary said. “Two thousand years ago, the Egyptians were using it in water preservation,” he said. “Then, into the early 20th century we started to see genuine medical applications for the silver.”
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Freetech thermoforming prizes
Breaking News & Features - (September 27, 2011)
The Society of Plastics Engineers’ Thermoforming Division has been placing thermoforming equipment at design schools for years. Thermoformer Freetech Plastics Inc. upped the incentive to use the equipment with a scholarship competition for North American students who mold and create their own concepts using that equipment. This video showcases the 2011 finalists at the Industrial Designers Society of America's annual meeting in New Orleans.
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